Contact with Dale Jr. hurt Stewart's chances

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Tony Stewart had plenty of reasons -- like 127 laps led -- to be frustrated Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway after the Golden Corral 500's dominant car in the early going fell to seventh at the finish.

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Stewart, who maintained second place in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings, 82 points behind Matt Kenseth, led more than double the number of laps in the 325-lap event than the next best competitor did.

But that did him no good during a sub-par mid-race run. Stewart's immediate post-race disgust was such that he abruptly waved off any attempt to speak to him after he exited his Chevrolet.

Gibbs Racing crew chief Greg Zipadelli said a condition similar to that which struck Kenseth's Ford crippled their effort.

	Stewart was bidding for his second win in the spring event at AMS. Credit: Autostock

"We just got tight for some reason," Zipadelli said. "Either we put a set of tires on or the racetrack changed a lot. Something changed, because we went from running really good to having an average racecar.

"I think we got it a little better at the end, by looking at our lap times, but it still didn't drive like (Tony) wanted it to."

Although Stewart out-raced Greg Biffle down the stretch to take seventh, his race for the win ended long before that.

His laps led occurred in the race's first 177 circuits. Immediately after rookie Casey Mears grabbed the lead at lap 178, Stewart made some startlingly intense contact on the frontstretch with race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

At that time, Stewart's Monte Carlo already was not the car it had been. Earnhardt's side of it provided the perfect explanation for Stewart's overwhelming frustration.

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"He had already given a few spots up, because his car really wasn't handling," Earnhardt said of Stewart. "I was just trying to fall in line there and be one of those guys that had passed him.

"We came up off of (Turn) 4 and the 12 car (Ryan Newman) got up under me to make it three-wide, which is normal here. I think in giving the 12 as much room as I did I squeezed Tony up a little bit and I think Tony wasn't quite ready to give up the position.

Atlanta videos Junior celebrates in Victory Lane Play video Junior takes the lead and holds off Mayfield for the win Play video Hear from the top five finishers Play video Gordon leads and Kenseth has trouble in the pits Play video

"I didn't even think I hit him -- I thought my right front tire had gone flat. It was pointed toward the fence and I lifted off the gas and kept going, so I think he was still hooked to me.

"I went down into the corner and asked my spotter what had happened. He said, 'he hit you.' I said, 'who hit me?' When he said the 20 (Stewart) I knew then I had probably bent his fender in and I felt bad about that because that left front fender is so precious here.

"He was not real happy about his car at that point because it was handling bad and he was giving up spots. He was just frustrated and I hate that I had to get into him, but it was an accident.

"He's my buddy, so I'm sure he ain't too mad."

Stewart appeared to be that upset when he left the racetrack, and Zipadelli put that in perspective.

"It's frustrating, because for two weeks in a row, we've had a really good racecar," Zipadelli said. "It seems like we're our own worst competition -- I feel like we beat ourselves for some reason (and) it's hard.

"But we still came out of here with a seventh and we got a third last week and that's nothing to be ashamed of. But I think we should've been better than what we finished here."